As it happened hour by hour:

23.59 By the end of D-Day, 159,000 Allied troops, marines, airmen and naval personnel ashore have successfully established four sizeable beachheads. The invasion front remains vulnerable to German counter-attack, and there will be terrible fighting ahead, but a crucial step has been taken towards liberating Europe.

22.30 Caen is bombed for a third time today.

22.00 General Montgomery boards the destroyer HMS Faulknor at Portsmouth for the beaches, where he will take command of Allied troops.

21.30 185th Brigade halts at Biéville, three miles from Caen.

21.20Operation Mallard has begun: 250 gliders escorted by RAF fighters bring reinforcements and equipments for the 6th British Airborne Division.

21.00 King George VI addresses Britain, the Empire and North America on the BBC:

Once more, a supreme test has to be faced. This time, the challenge is not to fight to survive but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause. Once again, what is demanded from us all is something more than courage, more than endurance. We need a revival of spirit – a new, unconquerable resolve.

20.55 Arromanches is captured; this will be key to installing the Mulberry harbours.

20.00 The fighting continues: 1st Suffolk Regiment captures the Hillman fortified site at Colleville-sur-Orne above Sword Beach. The concrete-reinforced stronghold has been the headquarters for the 736rd Regiment Grenadiers.

19.00 Across Fleet Street, editors are preparing their front pages. The Daily Telegraph’s main headline tomorrow will be: ALLIED INVASION TROOPS SEVERAL MILES INTO FRANCE

18.20 Churchill has spoken again to the Commons: “I have been at centres where the latest information is received and I can state to the House that this operation is proceeding in a thoroughly satisfactory manner.”

18.10 Canadian 9th Brigade reaches Bény.

18.00Charles de Gaulle’s address is broadcast to France.

The battle has begun and France will fight it with fury. For the sons of France, whoever they may be, wherever they may be, the simple and sacred duty is to fight the enemy with every means in their power.” He gives thanks to the British for their effort in the liberation of France. On hearing him, tears well up in Churchill’s eyes. Noticing an uncomfortable look on the face of General Ismay, his chief of staff, General Ismay, he says: “You great tub of lard! Have you no sentiment?

Charles de Gaulle speaking on BBC radio in 1940 (GETTY)

17.10 Reinforcements are leaving Britain by ship and later more will arrive by glider.

16.50Charles de Gaulle, in London, has recorded an address to the French people to be broadcast this evening. There have been tensions with Churchill and Eisenhower who kept the details of D Day from the Free French leader, but in the end his speech is not vetted.

16.30Caen is bombed for the second time today, an attempt again to destroy German communication lines. This time the targets are the bridges on the Orne river. Bombing lasts for more than a quarter of an hour, and the neighborhood is destroyed. The town has now suffered many hundreds of civilian casualties.

15.50 Winston Churchill is going back to the Commons to make another statement

15.45 Strongpoint Sole between Ouistreham and Colleville-sur-Orne falls to B Squadron 13 Hussars and the 2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire. 40 Germans are captured.

15.40 General Gunther Blumentritt, Von Rundstedt's chief of staff, calls Lt General Speidel at Rommel’s HQ to announce that Hitler has finally agreed to send in the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, based south of Rouen, and the Panzer Lehr based near Chartres.

15.30 At Omaha, Heinrich Severloh, the last German defender of strongpoint WN62, abandons his post. He claims to have fired over 12,000 rounds with a machine gun and 400 with his rifle and may be responsible for hundreds of the casualties on the beach.

15.10 Where's Rommel? Now less than an hour from La Roche-Guyon after a madcap dash back from Germany with his driver.

15.00 The first sections of two massive artificial harbours code-named Mulberry are heading across the Channel.Built of concrete and steel they will help the Allies to resupply the invasion force.

Constructed Mulberry harbours at Arromanches, Sept 1944 (ALAMY)

14.48 US troops beyond Omaha hold Colleville-sur-Mer. The German 916th Grenadier Regiment led by Col Goth counter-attacks but unsuccessfully.

14.35 Colonel von Oppeln-Bronikowski, leading the 22nd Panzer Regiment, has passed Caen and is urged by Gen Marks, commander of the 84th Corps, to press on to the beaches:

The fate of Germany... depends on the success of your attack.

14.20 Périers, south of Sword beach, is liberated by the Staffordshire Yeomanry.

14.10 Company Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis of the Green Howards is having a remarkable day. After landing at Gold beach, he investigates two German pillboxes with his company commander. He takes all but five of the occupants of the first pillbox prisoner and then captures 26 prisoners from the second. Then he clears a neighbouring trench.

Later he leads an attack on an enemy position containing a field gun and Spandau machine guns; then after withdrawing returns to fetch two men left behind.

He will be the only winner of a Victoria Cross on D-Day.

13.50 Despite a leaflet drop over Caen earlier, warning civilians of an Allied air attack, there are many casualties.

(ALAMY)

13.45 Progress at Omaha is thanks in no small part to the fighting spirit of the 29th Infantry Division, led by Maj Gen Norman "Dutch" Cota, one of the highest ranking officers on the beaches. He had taken a pessimistic view of the landings, realising the perils that awaited. But now his indomitable spirit shines through.

Meeting the commander of the 5th Ranger Battalion, Cota asks "What outfit is this?" A voice shouts "5th Rangers!" To which Cota answers: "Well, God damn it then, Rangers, lead the way!"

U.S. Army troops make a battle plan in a farmyard amid cattle, which were killed by artillery bursts (REUTERS/US National Archives)

13.30Caen is bombed for the first time on D Day. 70-plus B-24s of the 2nd Bombardment Division drop 160 tons of bombs over the town. Many civilians are killed.

13.18 Update from Omaha: German strongpoints have been taken, including strategic fortification WN72, with its 88mm and 50mm guns. This should open the route to the village of Vierville-sur-Mer.

13.10 Update from Utah beach: the 4th US Infantry Division's progress has been much easier than what is being endured at Omaha. Utah was lightly defended because the Germans thought that deliberate flooding of low-lying areas behind the beach provided a natural defence. But the Americans are making good progress across marshland to hook up with US Airborne forces, who dropped earlier in the Merderet and Douve valleys.

13.00 Frederick Allen reads the one o'clock BBC news: he recounts the details of the morning as described to the House of Commons by Winston Churchill and says that the Prime Minister was "loudly cheered" when he sat down.

The German home listener heard his first news of the Allied attack just half an hour ago.

12.55 Update from Juno beach: Canadian and British Commando forces have advanced through St Aubin and Courseulles, before pushing four miles inland, but they are meeting frequent pockets of resistance.

German prisoners-of-war march along Juno Beach landing area to a ship taking them to England, after they were captured by Canadian troops at Bernieres Sur Mer, France on June 6, 1944 (REUTERS/Ken Bell/National Archives of Canada)

12.50 Lord Lovat and his Commandos, accompanied by piper Bill Millin, approach the Bénouville bridges to relieve Major John Howard, 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Georges Gondrée, proprietor of the Café Gondreé, comes out with champagne for Lovat but is waved away with the words: "I'm working".

12.40 Update from Gold beach: the Germans are holding 1st Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment at bay outside Le Hamel. The forces of 50th Division have pushed inland four miles towards the town of Creully and 47 Commando Royal Marines have gone west four miles to take Port-en-Bessin and close the gap with the US forces at Omaha.

12.34 Where's Rommel? Being driven back at high speed from his home in Herrlingen to his HQ at La Rochue-Guyon. He has some way to go.

12.30 Update from Sword beach: the 1st South Lancashire Regiment (South Lancs) and 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment (East Yorks) have led the charge. The coastal strongpoint at la Breche has been captured, as has Hermanville-sur-Mer. The 185th Infantry Brigade, part of the second wave, has begun to push inland despite a lack of supporting armour.

American B-26 Marauder returns to UK base across the SWORD invasion beach on D-Day (Alamy)

12.15 At last, Churchill turns to the events of June 6:

I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning, the first of the series of landings in force upon the European Continent has taken place.

In this case the liberating assault fell upon the coast of France. An immense armada of upwards of 4,000 ships, together with several thousand smaller craft, crossed the Channel. Massed airborne landings have been successfully effected behind the enemy lines, and landings on the beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time.

The fire of the shore batteries has been largely quelled. The obstacles that were constructed in the sea have not proved so difficult as was apprehended. The Anglo-American Allies are sustained by about 11,000 firstline aircraft, which can be drawn upon as may be needed for the purposes of the battle. I cannot, of course, commit myself to any particular details. Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the Commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place.

The airborne troops are well established, and the landings and the follow-ups are all proceeding with much less loss - very much less - than we expected. Fighting is in progress at various points. We captured various bridges which were of importance, and which were not blown up. There is even fighting proceeding in the town of Caen, inland.

But all this, although a very valuable first step - a vital and essential first step - gives no indication of what may be the course of the battle in the next days and weeks, because the enemy will now probably endeavour to concentrate on this area, and in that event heavy fighting will soon begin and will continue without end, as we can push troops in and he can bring other troops up.

It is, therefore, a most serious time that we enter upon. Thank God, we enter upon it with our great Allies all in good heart and all in good friendship.

12.07 Winston Churchill is on his feet, addressing a packed House of Commons. He teases MPs by talking at length about the progress of the war in Italy.

12.00 John Snagge reads a special midday bulletin on the BBC's Home Service:

D-Day has come. Early this morning the Allies began the assault on the north-western face of Hitler's European fortress. The first official news came just after half past nine when Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force... issued Communique No 1 [see 09.30] ...

It was announced a little later that General Montgomery is in command of the Army Group carrying out the assault. This Army Group includes British, Canadian and United States forces.

The Allied Commander-in-Chief General Eisenhower has issued an Order of the Day addressed to each individual of the Allied Expeditionary Force. In it he said: 'Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.

'I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the Blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.'...

His Majesty the King will broadcast to his people at home and overseas at nine o'clock tonight.

11.48 Beyond Gold beach, the assault on Le Hamel is proving bloody and will take until late afternoon, with the support of the 147th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.

11.40 MPs are crowding the House of Commons awaiting a statement from Winston Churchill updating them on the extraordinary events of the morning.

11.30 BBC correspondent Howard Marshall, best known as a cricket commentator, reports from the beaches (it is unclear which he's on):

The scene on the beach, until one had sorted it out, was at first rather depressing because we did see a great many barges in difficulty with these anti-tank screens. And we noticed that a number of them had struck mines as ours struck mines.

But then we began to see that in fact the proportion which had got through was very much greater. And the troops were moving all along the roads. The tanks were out already and going up the hills. That in fact we were dominating the situation. And that our main enemy was the weather and that we were beating the weather. That we had our troops and our tanks ashore and that the Germans weren’t really putting up a great deal of resistance.

11.22 There are perhaps 2,000 dead at Omaha but troops are reaching the cliffs led by US Rangers. Gen Bradley is messaged that "things look better".

After the assault at the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc by the 2nd Ranger Battalion, German prisoners are gathered and an American flag is deployed for signaling. (GETTY)

11.07 Despite progress it is becoming clear that the plan to take Caen from Sword beach by nightfall will not happen. The South Lancashires hold Hermanville but await tank support from the Staffordshire Yeomanry in order to move on.

10.55 The progress of the British is being assisted by the "Hobart's Funnies" of 79th Armoured Division - modified tanks designed by Percy Hobart that can clear mines and prepare trackways.

10.45 The German 21st Panzer Division has received orders to attack between Bayeux and Caen.

10.40 Amid the carnage of Omaha, Colonel George Taylor, regimental commander of the US 16th Infantry Regiment, shouts to his men:

Two sorts of people are going to stay on this beach, those who are dead and those who are going to die. Let’s get the hell out of here!

10.33 Maj Gen Keller, leading the Canadians at Juno, messages SHAEF: "Beach-head gained. Well on our way to our immediate objectives"

Canadian soldiers from 9th Brigade land 06 June 1944 with their bicycles at Juno Beach in Bernieres (AFP)

10.25 Lord Lovat and his Commandos are marching towards to Bénouville to relieve Major Howard at Pegasus and Horsa bridges.

British paratroopers in Normandy (AFP / GETTY)

10.18 Destroyers and smaller craft close to shore are desperately trying to provide cover for the landed men at Omaha. There are in theory five exits from the beach - a paved road leading to Vierville-sur-Mer, two dirt roads leading to Colleville-sur-Mer and Saint-Laurent-sur-Mert, and two dirt paths - but given the level of fire the only practicable way out is to scale the cliffs as the US Rangers had at Pointe du Hoc (see 07.10)

10.10 Where's Rommel? Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is absent from his HQ at La Roche-Guyon, north-west of Paris. He has returned home to Herrlingen in south-west Germany for his wife Lucie’s 50th birthday. He is shortly to realise this was a mistake.

10.00 John Snagge reads the BBC news:

This is the BBC Home Service – and here is a special bulletin read by John Snagge. D-Day has come. Early this morning the Allies began the assault on the north-western face of Hitler’s European fortress. The first official news came just after half-past nine, when Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force issued Communique Number One...This said: ‘Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France’.

Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of SHAEF, broadcasts to Europe and says "the hour of your liberation is approaching":

People of Western Europe: a landing was made this morning on the coast of France by troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force. This landing is part of the concerted United Nations plan for the liberation of Europe, made in conjunction with our great Russian allies.

I have this message for all of you. Although the initial assault may not have been made in your own country, the hour of your liberation is approaching.

All patriots, men and women, young and old, have a part to play in the achievement of final victory. To members of resistance movements, I say, 'Follow the instructions you have received.' To patriots who are not members of organized resistance groups, I say, 'Continue your passive resistance, but do not needlessly endanger your lives until I give you the signal to rise and strike the enemy. The day will come when I shall need your united strength.' Until that day, I call on you for the hard task of discipline and restraint.

Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight D. Eisenhower (L) shows the strain of his command as he and Britain's Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (R), his deputy commander, confer on the invasion plans of Normandy (AFP)

09.48 There are hundreds of bodies on the beach at Omaha and floating in the water. German machine gunners of the 352nd Infantry Division are finding it too easy to pick off US forces as they attempt to sprint across the sand to the potential shelter of the 10ft-high seawall.

09.38Lord Lovat, leading 1st Special Service Brigade at Sword, cuts an extraordinary figure as he greets the incoming waves of Commandos, brushing the sand from his brogues.

Later, in his autobiography, he recalled the moment of landing:

The command craft had a comfortable landing. On these occasions the senior officer, stepping cautiously (rather than attempting a headlong dive), is first off the boat. Surprisingly, it is as safe a place as any. The water was knee-deep when Piper Millin truck up 'Blue Bonnets', keeping the pipes going as he played the commandos up the beach. It was not a place to hang about in, and we stood not on the order of our going. That eruption of 1,200 men covered the sand in record time... As we ran up the slope, tearing the waterproof bandages off weapons, the odd man fell, but swift reactions saved casualties.

'The handsomest man to cut a throat' was how Winston Churchill described Shimi

09.30 BBC newsreader John Snagge broadcasts Communiqué No 1, first official announcement of D Day.

This is London. London calling in the Home, Overseas and European services of the BBC and through United Nations Mediterranean, and this is John Snagge speaking. Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force have just issued Communiqué No 1. Communiqué No 1: Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France. I’ll repeat that communiqué. Communiqué No 1: Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.

09.15 General Omar Bradley, commander of the US First Army and in charge of the assaults on Omaha and Utah, is watching the chaos at Omaha from the cruiser the USS Augusta. He considers evacuation or diverting troops from Utah, the situation appears so perilous.

American landing craft approach Omaha beach on D-Day (ALAMY)

09.05Hitler is finally awake at the Berghof, Berchtesgaden. He regards the news from Normandy as excellent, still thinking - thanks to Operation Fortitude's chain of deceptions - that the morning's events are a cover for the real invasion at Pas-de-Calais.

08.50 Troops from the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-mer on Juno Beach, Normandy:

(HULTON ARCHIVE / GETTY)

08.40 Hitler is still asleep at Berchtesgaden.

08.35 Half-tracks, jeeps and trucks are stuck in deep water on Omaha. Wounded men on the beach are drowning as the tide comes in.

I was the first one out. The seventh man was the next one to get across the beach without being hit. All the ones in between were hit. Two were killed; three were injured. That's how lucky you had to be. - Captain Richard Merrill, 2nd Ranger Battalion

08.25 There are Sherman tanks on Omaha beach giving cover to troops but casualties are severe. Photographer Robert Capa has come ashore in the second wave with the 16th Regiment of the US 1st Infantry Division. He takes 106 pictures but only 11 survive mistakes in the processing lab - those images will become the most enduring of the day.

08.20 Brigadier Lord Lovat leads the Commandos of 1st Special Service Brigade ashore in the second wave at Sword beach, with piper Bill Millin playing "Highland Laddie". They are to relieve Major John Howard at Pegasus Bridge.

Millin began his apparently suicidal serenade immediately upon jumping from the ramp of the landing craft into the icy water. As the Cameron tartan of his kilt floated to the surface he struck up with Hieland Laddie. He continued even as the man behind him was hit, dropped into the sea and sank.

Once ashore Millin did not run, but walked up and down the beach, blasting out a series of tunes. After Hieland Laddie, Lovat, the commander of 1st Special Service Brigade (1 SSB), raised his voice above the crackle of gunfire and the crump of mortar, and asked for another. Millin strode up and down the water’s edge playing The Road to the Isles.

08.10 Resistance on Sword beach is weak. Within 45 minutes, fighting has moved inland and on the east flank the Commando units have reached the Orne. In all there will be 630 casualties securing the beach.

08:00 Frederick Allen reads the BBC news:

Supreme Allied Headquarters have issued an urgent warning to inhabitants of the enemy-occupied countries living near the coast. The warning said that a new phase of the Allied air offensive had begun.

All preliminary reports are satisfactory. Airborne formations apparently landed in good order... Preliminary bombings by air went off as scheduled. ... Yesterday, I visited British troops about to embark and last night saw a great portion of a United States airborne division just prior to its takeoff. The enthusiasm, toughness and obvious fitness of every single man were high and the light of battle was in their eyes. I will keep you informed.

07.55 The first Canadian assault wave at Juno finds beach obstacles partly submerged by the tide. Engineers cannot clear paths to the beach; landing craft hit mines and almost a third are destroyed or damaged. Heavy casualties are sustained in the first hour on Juno. 21,400 men will be landed, with 1,200 casualties.

07.40 After hours without a decision, and with Hitler still sleeping, Gen Edgar Feuchtinger unilaterally orders his 21st Panzer Division to move on the eastern beaches.

07.35 H-Hour at Juno beach.

The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division commanded by Maj Gen Rodney Keller is meant to land in two sectors at 07.35 and 07.45 but each timing is delayed by 10 minutes because of rough seas.

07.30 H-Hour at Gold beach.

The British 50th Division's mission, under the command of Major General Douglas Graham, is to establish a beachhead between Arromanches - important for the deployment of the artificial Mulberry harbour - and Ver-sur-Mer, then head to Bayeux to cut the road to Caen. After initial resistance, progress is good with relatively few casualties. By the end of the day, 24,970 will have landed with 413 casualties.

A Cromwell tank leads a British Army column from the 4th County of London Yeomanry inland from Gold Beach (REUTERS)

07.25 H-Hour at Sword beach

The British 3rd Division lands, led by Maj Gen Tom Rennie, whose aim is to liaise with the 6th Airborne and the 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions to take Caen and the Carpiquet aerodrome by nightfall. 28,845 men will land at Sword.

07.10 A US Army Ranger Assault Group of 225 men led by Colonel Rudder attacks the eastern face of Pointe du Hoc, a 100-ft high fortified cliff between Utah and Omaha beaches. After fierce fighting the gun emplacements are taken but found to be empty – artillery had already been moved. Fighting continues for 36 hours after which only 90 Rangers emerge unscathed.

06.58 Bombing over Gold beach and the west of Juno beach begins: 385 B-17s of the 1st Bombardment Division strike coastal batteries between Longues-sur-Mer and Courseulles-sur-Mer. Meanwhile 322 B-17s of the 3rd Bombardment Division hit batteries and defences between Bernières and Ouistreham to cover the east of Juno beach and Sword beach.

A B-25 Mitchell bomber flies over the Allied invasion fleet in the English Channel (REX)

06.48 Berlin Radio has announced that Allied paratroopers are landing in France and that an E-boat has sunk a destroyer

06.45 At Utah, the westernmost of the five beaches, the situation is better, despite the tide taking landing craft a mile south of their intended position. The first troops to reach the shore are from 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry. Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr, 56-year-old son of the former president and assistant commander of the 4th Division, is in the first wave.

Aerial view of the first landing with landing craft and allied soldiers. (GETTY)

Members of an American landing party lend helping hands to others whose landing craft was sunk (REUTERS)

06.40 Problems are immediately obvious at Omaha, where 34,000 men and 3,300 vehicles are to be landed. Many landing craft miss their targets; 10 are swamped by rough seas; Duplex Drive tanks – modified Shermans with floats attached – are sinking in the swell (27 of the first 29 are lost). And German resistance – from the 352nd Infantry Division – is stronger than anticipated.

Allied troops crouch behind the bulwarks of a landing craft as it nears Omaha Beach (AP)

06.30 H-Hour on Omaha and Utah beaches. The 1st and 29th American Divisions land over a four-mile front at Omaha. The US 4th Division assaults Utah. 23,250 are to land at Utah.

06.15 As H-Hour nears, rocket launcher barges approach the beaches, spraying them with salvoes of rockets: 20,000 in the British sector (Gold, Juno and Sword beaches) and 18,000 in the American sector (Utah and Omaha beaches)

As we reached Omaha beach, all 40 aircraft dropped their bombs. More than 100 tons of bombs exploded in a few seconds. This was the only mission over Europe when I felt the concussion of our own bombs. - Henry Tarcza, on a B-17 of 8th Air Force.

06.00 The BBC broadcasts a message from Gen Eisenhower to the people of Normandy:

The lives of many of you depend on the speed with which you obey. Leave your towns at once – stay off the roads – go on foot and take nothing with you that is difficult to carry. Do not gather in groups which may be mistaken for enemy troops.

05.50 USS Texas bombards Omaha beach with 14-inch guns.

05.37 A flotilla of three German E-boats stumbles on the invasion fleet and fires torpedoes, hitting the Norwegian destroyer Svenner.

American battleship USS Arkansas firing its big guns while shelling the beaches of Normandy (Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image)

04.45 Merville battery is captured by the British 9th Parachute Battalion, clearing the path for the landing on Sword beach. But it has old 75mm guns and not 150mm guns as was thought.

04.40 Von Rundstedt orders the 12th SS Panzer Division and Panzer-Lehr to move immediately to Calvados. Gen Jodl, at OKW, the Armed Forces High Command, cancels the order at 06.30 and decides to wait for Hitler to wake up.

04.35 132 men from the 4th and 24th cavalry squadrons of the US 4th Cavalry Group under Lt Col Edward Dunn land off the St Marcouf islands, three miles from Utah beach. SHAEF believed the Germans might have built heavy batteries on them. There are no Germans but there are minefields.

04.30 Two X-class midget submarines, X20 and X23, each with a crew of five, have sat silently off the Normandy coast for two days before D-Day. Now they surface to put up an 18-ft telescopic mast equipped with navigation lights and radio beacon to guide British and Canadian landing craft to the beaches.

03.35 The HQ of the 6th Airborne Division lands by glider north of Ranville.

03.30 Assault troops begin boarding landing craft.

Film still from the D-Day landings showing commandos aboard a landing craft on their approach to Sword Beach (IWM via Getty Images)

03.15 Georges and Thérèse Gondrée, proprietors of the Café Gondreé beside Pegasus Bridge, were initially suspicious of the activity outside. But now they realise the soldiers are British and open their doors to greet the liberators.

03.00 USS Samuel Chase, an attack transport ship and part of the vast fleet that makes up Operation Neptune, anchors off Omaha Beach. Among those aboard is Robert Capa, the American war photographer.

02.40 Field Marshal von Rundstedt commands the German army in France. He is hearing reports from Normandy of fighting but still believes an invasion is aimed at Pas-de-Calais. The 21st Panzer Division could be mobilised but Hitler is aleep at Berchtesgaden and cannot be woken to give the order. (Image: Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

02.00 The first wave of bombers leaves Britain to attack targets in the vicinity of the beachheads.

01.30 Men from the 9th Parachute Battalion, part of the 6th Airborne Division, rendezvous a mile east of Merville battery but only 150 of 600 make it because the drop has dispersed them so widely.

01.20 Man battle stations order given to first Navy hands. The process of lowering the landing craft into the water begins. Airborne troops on shore disrupt communications by knocking down telephone poles and severing phone lines.

01.15 Operation Taxable is under way, another part of the effort to deceive the enemy. 617 Squadron of the RAF (the Dambusters) drops strips of “window”, metal foil that fools radar operators that they are looking at a naval convoy. “Window” is also dropped in Operation Glimmer by 218 Squadron near Boulogne-sur-Mer, again designed to reinforce idea that invasion will happen at Pas-de-Calais.

01.00 To the west, paratroopers of the US 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions are dropped. They too are to protect troops landing on the beaches but they are scattered widely across the Cotentin peninsula and some drown in flooded fields.

00.50 RAF aircraft drop paratroopers of the 6th Airborne Division over Ranville, Merville, Trouffeville and Troarn. Their aim is to take out the battery of Merville to the south-east of Cabourg, destroy the bridges and occupy the crest of Troarn to prevent the arrival of German reinforcements during the landings.

The Merville battery overlooks the beaches where the British and Canadians will land. They need to neutralise it before 05:15, after which the Royal Navy will shell it.

00.35 Both bridges are captured in less than 15 minutes, with two men killed and 14 wounded. L/Cpl Edward Tappenden sends the “Ham and Jam” victory radio message.

00.16 Six Horsa gliders are dropped above Cabourg. Major John Howard commands 180 men whose objective is to capture two bridges, code-named Ham and Jam – the Bénouville Bridge over the Caen Canal (Ham) and the Ranville Bridge (Jam) over the river Orne. Staff Sgt Jim Wallwork pilots lead glider.

The Pont de Bénouville will later be renamed Pegasus Bridge after the emblem of the British airborne forces, and the Pont de Ranville renamed Horsa Bridge.

They must be captured to secure the eastward route for troops landing at Sword beach and to prevent German tanks coming west from Calais.

Gliders landed at Pont de Bénouville (PA)

Major John Howard:

We were coming in at 90 mph on touchdown. I suppose that really was the most exhilarating moment of my life. I could see the bridge tower 50 yards from where I was standing. Above all, the tremendous thing there was that there was no firing at all. We had complete surprise, we had caught old Jerry with his pants down.

00.10 The first “pathfinders” jump over Normandy. They are in advance of the airborne assault and will mark drop zones for paratroopers and landing paths for gliders.

00.00 (midnight, Double British Summer Time): Operation Titanic – part of Operation Fortitude – begins, designed to distract German anti-paratrooper units while the real landings take place.

RAF aircraft drop hundreds of dummy paratroopers across Seine-Maritime, Calvados, Manche. An SAS team parachutes in to the Cotentin peninsula and lands five miles west of Saint-Lô. Lieutenant Norman Poole becomes the first man to jump over Normandy. They install amplifiers to play combat noises, mortar explosions and the sound of soldiers cursing.

Introduction

The largest seaborne invasion in history was confirmed for June 6 1944 after Group Captain James Stagg, chief meteorologist for the RAF, told Gen Eisenhower, Allied Supreme Commander, that weather conditions would be favourable. The decision was taken at Southwick House near Portsmouth, Advance Command Post of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF).

6,939 vessels – 1,213 warships, 4,126 landing craft, 736 ancillary craft and 864 merchant vessels – gathered in “Area Z” south of the Isle of Wight, in preparation for landings at five Normandy beaches, along 50 miles of the coast – Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

Operation Fortitude, a painstaking campaign of deception involving the setting up of a fake First US Army Group under General George Patton, has worked – the Germans have been deceived into thinking a Normandy invasion will be merely a diversion for a real attack at Pas-de-Calais, and that Norway will be invaded next.